# Why do we develop immunity to viruses but not bacteria? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 4, 2025, 2:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-develop-immunity-to-viruses-but-not-bacteria/1023672 "2025-10-04T14:38:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 5
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [October 5, 2025, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-develop-immunity-to-viruses-but-not-bacteria/1023672/5 "2025-10-05T18:39:27Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I’ve had strep a dozen times, but you get chicken pox once and you’re done. We discussed this a while back - chicken pox is one of those things that you can get more than once (not even counting shingles): > [@No, we don't all need to "get it eventually"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/no-we-dont-all-need-to-get-it-eventually/851344/62): > > I found this paper from the Journal of the American Association of Pediatrics [https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/109/6/1068?sso=1&sso\_redirect\_count=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3A+No+local+token](https://pediatrics.aappublications.org/content/109/6/1068?sso=1&sso_redirect_count=1&nfstatus=401&nftoken=00000000-0000-0000-0000-000000000000&nfstatusdescription=ERROR%3a+No+local+token) "Results. Among varicella cases reported to the surveillance project, 4.5% of cases in 1995 and 13.3% of cases in 1999 reported previous varicella. More than 95% of first infections were physician diagnosed, epidemiologically linked… --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-do-we-develop-immunity-to-viruses-but-not-bacteria/1023672)._